Justification: Grace, Faith, and Righteousness — Romans 3:21-26

Paul's argument reaches its climax in Rom 3:21-26, where the righteousness of God is revealed "apart from the law." This answers the indictment he has built since Rom 1:18, where the wrath of God is revealed against all unrighteousness. The problem of 1:18 finds its solution in 3:21. The pivotal phrase is dikaiosyne theou. Cranfield reads the genitive as God's own saving activity, and the Reformers heard in it a righteousness received by faith (Luther made it the article on which the church stands). All sides confess v.26: God is "just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." The historic question is how the verdict touches the sinner. Trent taught that justification includes an inward renewal, righteousness truly imparted, while the Reformers stressed a righteousness reckoned, or imputed. The 1999 Joint Declaration found a deep consensus beneath the old condemnations: we are accepted by God and renewed by the Spirit, by grace alone through faith. Paul grounds the verdict in the hilasterion of Rom 3:25, echoing the mercy seat of Lev 16:14-15, and draws the pastoral conclusion in Rom 5:1: "we have peace with God."